Radiohead
Amnesiac

After blowing rock music to smithereens with the creepy, operatic OK
Computer and the eerie, freak-out Kid A, Radiohead opted
to remain in the same stylistic space for its latest endeavor Amnesiac. That's not to say
that its new outing doesn't continue to push boundaries. It most certainly does that. But this
time around, Radiohead declined to shift its focus and instead put together an album that clears the
deck for whatever path the group's members might wish to wander next. Consequently, Amnesiac
feels more like a hodgepodge of B-sides and previously unreleased recordings (albeit very good
ones), resulting in a collection of songs that ultimately leans toward the "been there, done that" side of the
spectrum.

Throughout Amnesiac, Radiohead employs the same suffocating, isolated ambience that graced
the disc's predecessors. On Pyramid Song, an orchestra chimes in, rising and falling as the
band drifts just slightly off-kilter in a space-age waltz, and the droning percussive groove of I
Might Be Wrong becomes a twirling, meditative churn. Singer Thom Yorke's vocals continue to
swoon with a dreamy, yet suicidal quality, often swerving into the contorted, mechanical fragments
of a futuristic, nightmarish hallucination. Volleys of electronic tones bombard his distorted spoken
word exchange with avant garde artiness on Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors. On You and Whose
Army?, Yorke seems to struggle for his breath as he sinks deeper into the song's bubbling,
molten texture.

While Amnesiac does have a little more in common with OK Computer than it does with
Kid A, it is not the listener-friendly outing that it was touted to be. Indeed, the major
difference between these two discs is simply the return of Jonny Greenwood's guitar, though it's now
utilized primarily to add additional shade and color to the band's murky mood music. Since Amnesiac and Kid A were culled from the same recording sessions, it really shouldn't be
much of a surprise that the releases share such a close bond. However, while one album of
electronic experimentation sounds fresh, two can be a bit trying, and part of the problem with
Amnesiac no doubt lies with the fact that its songs don't hold together
nearly as well as those on Kid A.
Regardless, Radiohead remains a major force, reshaping the face of rock music for the new
millennium, and as the band closes this chapter of its history, one can only wonder where
it will go
from here. ½